Open Lectures

Plenary lecture series: information for members of the University

The University of Cambridge has held International Summer Programmes since 1923. Organised and run by the International Programmes Division of the Institute of Continuing Education, the offering now embraces 12 programmes and 196 courses. Over 1100 visitors from 63 countries will come to the University for periods of study lasting from one to six weeks – a total in excess of 1150 enrolments has already been reached. At the core of each Summer Programme are the small, special study classes, largely taught by members of the University. Each programme also offers plenary lectures for all participants in that Summer Programme, and experts from within the University and beyond are invited to contribute to these series.

These lectures have been very well received in the past, and the organisers of the Summer Programmes would like, where possible, to make them more widely accessible to those with research and teaching interests in the subject concerned. The lectures are not open to the public, but where space in the lecture hall permits, we are willing to make places available for members of the University to attend the plenary lectures which interest them most.

Please note: for security reasons, all members of the University will be asked to confirm their status to one of the Institute’s staff in attendance at the lecture hall. We would be grateful if those wishing to attend any of these lectures would notify us in advance. Contact details are given at the end of this list. Any unavoidable changes to the list of venues or speakers will be posted in the main Summer Programmes Office (Foyer, Lady Mitchell Hall): we suggest you arrive a few minutes in advance in order to allow time to check the location.

Interdisciplinary Summer Programme Terms I, II and III

The three teaching terms of the Institute of Continuing Education’s Interdisciplinary Summer Programme run from Monday 9 July to Friday 20 July, from Monday 23 July to Friday 3 August, and from Monday 6 August to Friday 17 August, 2018. The talks in each Term’s plenary series of lectures follow the theme: Impact. The topic has been chosen to stimulate interest amongst a group of students from a broad range of disciplines. Lectures take place in Lady Mitchell Hall. The morning lectures begin promptly at 10.30am, and finish at 11.30am. The series is arranged for the c.100 participants in each Term of the Interdisciplinary Summer Programme, but members of the University are cordially invited to attend. (See also ‘Evening talks’ section below.)

16 August 10.30am Dr Mónica Moreno Figueroa: The racialised body: the impact of race and beauty in everyday life

17 August 10.30am Caroline Holmes: The impact of mistranslating Englishness in buildings abroad

Science Summer Programme, Terms I and II

Teaching for the two Terms of the Science Summer Programme takes place from Monday 9 July to Friday 3 August, 2018. The theme for this year’s plenary lecture series is Impact and Responsibility. Term I lectures are given in Room LG17,in theLaw Faculty, and Term II lectures are given in the Runcie Room, Faculty of Divinity, both on the Sidgwick Site. (See also ‘Evening talks section below.)

Science Term I:

9 July 9.00am Dr Martin Welch: Genes, genomes and you

10 July 9.00am Dr Ed Turner: Insect conservation: conserving the little things that run the world

Ancient and Classical Worlds Summer Programme

Teaching for the Ancient and Classical Worlds Summer Programme takes place from Monday 9 July to Friday 20 July, 2018. The theme for this year’s plenary lecture series is Ideas and Influence. Morning lectures take place in the Runcie Room, Faculty of Divinity on the Sidgwick Site. (See also ‘Evening talks’ section below.)

16 July 9.15am Dr Matthew Symonds: Rome’s frontiers: the end of an empire without end

17 July 9.15am Professor Paul Cartledge: Spartan mirages

18 July 9.15am Dr Beatriz Marin-Aguilera: Masters of the sea: history and influence of the Phoenicians

19 July 9.15am Dr Nigel Strudwick: The influence of Thebes on the culture of Egypt over the millennia

20 July 9.15am Dr John MacGinnis: The Assyrian Empire

Literature Summer Programme, Terms I and II

Teaching for the two terms of the Literature Summer Programme takes place from Monday 9 July and to Friday 3 August, 2018. The theme for this year’s plenary lecture series is Influences. Morning lectures in week I (9-13 July) are held in G19 in the Classics Faculty and afterwards, in Little Hall (16 July-3 August). (See also ‘Evening talks’ section below.)

Literature Term I:

9 July 11.15am Dr Edward Allen: The influence of allusion: from Shakespeare to Trump

2 August 11.15am Dr Ewan Jones: Good vibrations? Sympathy and science in the 19th-century novel

3 August 11.15am Dr Jenny Bavidge: ‘tl;dr': the influence of digital culture and social media on contemporary literature

History Summer Programme

Teaching for the Summer Programme in History takes place between Monday 23 July and Friday 3 August, 2018. The theme for this year’s plenary lecture series is Turning-points. Morning lectures take place in Room LG18 in the Law Faculty on the Sidgwick Site. (See also ‘Evening talks’ section below.)

23 July 9.15am Dr Caroline Shenton: The day parliament burned down

24 July 9.15am Professor Mark Goldie: 1688: the English Revolution

25 July 9.15am Dr Elizabeth Drayson: 1492: how seven centuries of Muslim rule in Spain came to an end

26 July 9.15am Dr Jonathan Davis: 1968: the year that changed the Cold War

27 July 9.15am Dr Colin Shindler: The Profumo Affair

30 July 9.15am Dr Richard Serjeantson: The Sciences vs. the Humanities in the Scientific Revolution?

1 August 9.15am Dr Jennifer Keating: Long live the revolution! Exploring watersheds in history

2 August 9.15am Allen Packwood: Turning-points for Churchill in World War Two

3 August 9.15am Dr David Smith: Turning-points in 17th-century England

Art and Visual Culture Summer Programme

Teaching for the Art and Visual Culture Summer Programme takes place between Monday 23 July and Friday 3 August, 2018. Core Lectures for the Programme will be held in Room LG17, in the Faculty of Law on the Sidgwick Site. (See also ‘Evening talks’ section below.)

23 July 9.00am Dr Lydia Hamlett: Murals and movement in the British Baroque

23 July 11.00am Dr Donal Cooper: Titian in the Frari: Sacred Art and the Moving Viewer in Renaissance Venice

23 July 2.00pm Siân Griffiths: Artistic value: a moving target

24 July 9.00am Malavika Anderson: Why is this here? Objects on the move

2 August 2.00pm Alex Taylor: Film and television culture in the age of the algorithm

3 August 9.00am Dr Amy Tobin: Heresies and the reproduction of art and feminist politics

3 August 11.00am Richard Humphreys: Arrested Movement: Vorticism and the London Avant-Garde 1910-1915

3 August 2.00pm Richard Wright: Talk by artist Richard Wright

Medieval Studies Summer Programme

Teaching for the Medieval Studies Summer Programme takes place between Monday 6 August and Friday 17 August, 2018. The theme for this year’s morning plenary lecture series is Chivalry. Morning lectures take place in the Runcie Room in theFaculty of Divinity, on the Sidgwick Site. (See also ‘Evening talks’ section below.)

6 August 9.15am Dr Rowena E Archer: War and chivalry: John Mowbray and preparations for Agincourt, 1415

7 August 9.15am Dr Hugh Doherty: The emergence of the tournament, c.1070-1150

8 August 9.15am Dr Philip Morgan: Sir Robert Grosvenor at the Court of Chivalry

9 August 9.15am Julian Munby: From Tintagel to the tiltyard: the chivalric fantasy

Shakespeare Summer Programme

Teaching for the Shakespeare Summer Programme runs from Monday 6 August to Friday 17 August, 2018. The theme for this year’s morning plenary lecture series is Transitions. Morning lectures take place in Little Hall, on the Sidgwick Site. (See also ‘Evening talks’ section below.)

Creative Writing Summer Programme

Teaching for the Creative Writing Summer Programme takes place between Monday 6 August and Friday 17 August, 2018. Morning lectures for the Creative Writing Summer Programme will be held in Room SG1, in the Alison Richard building on the Sidgwick Site. (See also ‘Evening talks’ section below.)

13 August 8.00pm Richard Partington: Real-world careers of the chivalric élite: noble service in the 14th century

15 August 8.00pm Andrew Hatcher: The future of currency

Please note

Any unforeseen or last-minute changes to this lecture programme will be posted in the main Summer Programmes Office (Lady Mitchell Hall).

Your response to these lectures is invited

We would be interested to hear your response to any of the plenary lectures you have heard. If you have comments, or wish to know more about teaching on the Summer Programmes, please email Sarah Ormrod, Director of International Programmes, Institute of Continuing Education at sjo1001@cam.ac.uk.